Wrench



W. T. LONG.

WRENCH.

APPLICATION FIL'ED APR. 15. I921.-

Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

UNITED STATES 'WILLIAM'T, Lone, or rUYALLUP, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO USONA Mmomc.

PATENT OFFICE.

TUBING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF WASHINGTON.

' I WRENCH.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, TVILLIAM T. LONG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Puyallup, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in renches, of which the following-isa specification.

My present invention seeks to simplify the construction and render the operation of an adjustable wrench easier and more certain than similar devices heretofore produced. The invention seeks to provide a device in which the movable jaw may be brought quickly into position to approximately engage a nut and then by simple manipulation of a handle member be brought into active engagement with the nut or bolt head or other article to be held and quickly locked in such engagement. These stated objects and other objects which will incidentally appear in the course of the following description are attained in such a device as is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and the invention consists in certainnovel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 1

In the drawings Figure'l is a side elevation of a wrench constructed in accordance with my present invention Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same showing the handle member and dog free of the shank;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the working positions of the dog by full and dotted lines;

Fig. 1 is a detail transverse section on the line -'l-4= of Fig. 1.

In carrying out my invention I employ a shank 1 which is reduced and tapered at one end to form a screw driver 2 and atits opposite end isconstructed with a lateral integral head or jaw As clearly shown-in the drawings, the working face lof the fixed jaw is preferably disposed at an angle of about sixty degrees to the intersecting edge of the shank and the working face 5 of the movable jaw 6 is disposed at about the same angle so that a hexagonal nut may be firmly gripped in the wrench and the holding force applied to three faces of the nut, as will be readily understood on reference to Fig. 1. The movable jaw is preferably formed integral with a sleeve 7 which is Specification of Letters Patent- Patented 1 7 1922 Application fi1ed April 15, 1921. Serial N0.'461,549.

slidably fitted upon the shank 1 and in the rear end edges of the side walls of said sleeve are circular recesses 8 opening through the said end edges to be engaged by corresponding lugs 9 onthe forward end of the handle 10 whereby the handle is.

pivotally engaged with the .movable jaw. The working face of the movable jawwis shown as provided with a plurality of transverseridges or teeth 11 whereby Small objects may be gripped, and it will be readily understood that these ridges may be duplicated upon the fixed jaw so that the tool may be utilized as a pipewrench. The rear end edges of the sleeve portion of the movable jaw are inclined downwardly and rearwardly below the recesses 85 as shown at 12, and are curved as shown at 13, above the said recesses so that freedom of movement of the handle member is permitted. The curved face 13 of the sleeve portion of the movable jaw also constitutes an abutment to co-operate with the dog 14, as will: presently more fully appear. The handle member 10 may be formed from sheet metal and is substantially U-shaped or arched in cross section so that it will span the shank 1, the forward end edges of the handle member above the circular lugs 9 being concaveeas shown at 15, so as to accommodate the curved face 13 of the movable jaw member. Vithin the handle member, adjacent the forward end thereof, I pivotally mount the dog 14;, the pivot pin 16 being disposed transversely ofthe handle member immediately adjacent the forward end thereof, as

clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the dog extending rearwardly from said pivot member and being provided on its working edge with a longitudinal series of transverse teeth 1'7 adapted to engage corresponding teeth 18 on the adjacent edge of'the shank 1. The teeth 18 may be providedwith fig ures or, other indicators denoting the diameters of nuts or other articles which will be engaged by the jaws when the dog is set atvarious points along the shank. A leaf spring 19 is secured at one end within the handle 10 and its free end bears against the outer edge of the dog, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and It will also be noted upon reference to said figures that normally the forward end of the dog bears against the curved abutting face 13 of the movable jaw member,

The spring 19 tends to hold the dog against the shank and in engagement with the teeth 18 thereon. To set the tool, the free end of the dog is engaged with the properly marked tooth of the shank and pressure is then exerted to move the handle toward the "shank, this movement causing the 'extended pivotal end 20 of the'dog bearing against the face 13 of the movable jaw member to slide the said jaw toward the fixed jaw and; grip the nut or other article to be held. It willbe readilyunderstood that the 'freeend of thedog, by its engagement with the toothed portion of the shank, acts as a fulc'rum about which the dog will rock or turn as the handle is pressed toward the shank and the pivot 16 will be consequently moved toward the frontend of the shank or thefixed jaw. The handle, however, will swing aboutsaid pivotal connection .as it .is --pressed'toward tl1e shank and the extreme forward ends of the handle constituting the lugs 9 will be caused to slide forwardly along the shank, and the movable jaw will thus be forced into binding engagement withthenut held against the fixed jaw. If it be desired to retainthe tool in engagement with the nut while the operator may perform some other work, a holding bail'21 pivoted upon the shank may be swung over the free end of the handle, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, so'that the handle will be held against movement under theinfluence 'of the spring 19. hen the nut or other article is to be-released, the bail 21 is swung from over the end of the handle. and the spring 19 then swings the handle away from -the shank. This movement of the handle will obviously withdraw the movable jaw from the nut orfro'm-the fixed aw and will continue until the forward end of the dog abuts the curved face 13 of the movable jaw member. If slight outward pressure be then applied to the handle member, theengagemerit of the forward end of the'dog with -the rear face 13 of thefmovablejaw'member willcause the dog'to rock about the pivot '-1'6antl releaseits rear end'from the toothed por'tionof the shank. If thestated pressure lee-maintained upon the handle, it, with the movable jawymay be slid along the shank to anydesired extent and the movable jaw 'th-us initiallyadjusted, the finaladjustment and gripping of'the article to be held being accomplished by swinging the-handle to- "ward theshank in an obvious mannerand 'toolwhich may be very quickly adjusted and brought into gripping engagement with a nut to be turned or an article to be held. The tool is free of all extraneous projections which tend to mar its appearance and are liable 'to be broken or otherwise damage and decrease theefiiciency of the tool. The few partswhich are employedin the presenttool are very compactly arranged and the dog and the spring for actuating the same are entirely housed. within the handle. The setting of the movable jaw in itsworkingposi- 't101l,OI' the withdrawing ofthesame is accomplished by simple manipulation of the handle and it is not necessary to remove the hold upon the handle in order to manipulate any other parts prior to the adjustment of the tool'through the action of the handle.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A wrench comprising a shank, afixed jawcarried by the shank, a movable jaw slidably mounted on the shank, a handle pivotally engaged with the movable jaw, 21

dog pivotally mounted within the handle and adapted to, engage the shank, means yieldably holding the dog to the shank, the

forward end of the dog being arranged to abut the rear end of the movable jaw whereby extreme movement of the handle from the shank will release the dog fromthe shank.

'2. A wrench comprising a shank, a fixed jaw carried by the shank, a movable jaw having a sleeve portion slidably. encircling the shank and provided with open-ended recesses in its rear end, a handle spanning the shank and provided at its forward end with forwardly projecting circular lugs 'pivotally fitting within the said recesses, a dog pivotally mounted at its front end within the handle adjacent the front end of the same and having its free rear'end adaptedto engage the shank, the forward extremity of the dog being adapted to abutthe rear end of thesleeveportion of the movablejaw, and

a leaf springsecured in the handle and havingits free end bearing upon the dog adjacent the rear end thereof.

In testimon whereof I afiix my signature.

w LLIAM T. LONG. [n 5. 

